𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒¹

𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑎𝑔

‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

BESIDES THE FACT THAT Astoria would get beat up everyday, she loved camp activities. She and Percy received lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and Chiron. Not to mention, Annabeth gave them both Ancient Greek lessons, talking about gods and goddesses and learning the language. Being a whole nerd about Ancient Greece, thanks to the Percy Jackson series, Astoria found the topic interesting and easy to remember. The language, on the other hand, was a bit confusing and required some extra help from Percy and Annabeth.

After Ancient Greek, the two newcomers would rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something that had potential and/or skill in. Chiron taught them both archery basics to try. Around 30-35 feet away from them were targets to aim for. All they had to do was at least hit the wood.

On the first try, Astoria accidentally shot a tree, and a nymph came out shouting at her. She had apologized profusely to calm down the creature's nerves, and even Chiron had to step in. However, in that time, Percy let go of his arrow and tangled the weapon in Chiron's tail. Astoria gasped and swiveled her head at Percy. He was sweating bullets and panicking. When Chiron noticed, he bore no harsh feelings and took the stray arrow out of his tail.

"Nevermind the stray arrow," he said. "Not everyone starts out perfectly. How about another try?"

Astoria walked back and notched her arrow. She aimed again. This time, she took careful attention to her surroundings. Where was the wind blowing? How much strength would she need to put in order to reach her target? Should the bow be straight or higher? She heaved a sigh and pulled back. Slowly, she pointed to tip of this arrow slightly upward and let go.

The arrow flew straight at formidable speed and punctured the target near the middle rings (not center) to the left. Astoria hit the fricken target.

"Yes!" She shouted victoriously. Startled, Percy turned around and let go of the arrow. "Holy-" She ducked and the arrow flew above her head. Her hands covered the top of her head and she stared at him accusingly. She almost died for the second time! "If you didn't like me, you should've told me," she pretended to be hurt. "To think that you'd opt for murder." A big fat tear slipped down her face.

Percy stuttered, perplexed by her tears. "I seriously didn't mean to. It was an accident! And who said about not liking you?! I don't not  like you. I do like you." Astoria blinked. 'What did he say?' "I mean, not the like, like. As a friend-"

"Percy." Chiron rested his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I think she understands." Percy sealed his lips and sped off. Astoria had to chase after him.

The next activity was foot racing with the wood-nymph instructor. And it was an understatement to say that Percy was not as fast as Astoria thought he was. She and the nymph sped past him, although the girl was still slower that their instructor. When Percy finally reached the end, he was panting and fell on his back.

"I suck," he panted.

"You don't have to worry about being slower than us," the nymphs reassured him hurriedly. "After all, we've had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods."

"I don't think that's something to gloat about," Astoria mumbled under her breath, "but whatever works."

After running, they moved on the next activity, wrestling. It was one of the worst activities for Percy. Astoria had no problem giving a little fight in her, but Clarisse's intense hatred against them two, more specifically Percy, called for a WWE type of fight rather than lessons. Oh well. Astoria did want to get on friendly terms with Clarisse. Despite the teen's... intense personality, her skills were something to commend, and Astoria definitely wanted La Rue to teach her.